Adin Hill made 27 saves in posting his fourth shutout of the season and the 11th of his career in the Vegas Golden Knights’ 4-0 win over the host Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night.
Nicolas Roy and Brandon Saad had a goal and an assist each and Pavel Dorofeyev and defenseman Alex Pietrangelo also provided goals for the Golden Knights, who had lost their previous two games. Tomas Hertl added two assists.
Elvis Merzlikins stopped 25 shots for the Blue Jackets, who have lost four of their last five.
Vegas led 2-0 after the first period despite being outshot 14-6.
Columbus had the first eight shots of the game before the Blue Jackets’ Justin Danforth took a tripping penalty with 9:27 left in the opening period. The Golden Knights’ first shot came 1:27 later (eight minutes left) when Roy tapped in Jack Eichel’s cross-crease pass for a power-play goal and a 1-0 Vegas lead.
The assist was Eichel’s 59th of the season and his 79th point, which breaks the franchise record for points in a season. William Karlsson had 78 in 2017-18, the Golden Knights’ first season.
Saad made it 2-0 with 59 seconds left in the first when he put his second rebound attempt, a backhand flip, past Merzlikins. The two shot attempts were Vegas’ first at even strength for the game.
Their previous shots in the first period came on Roy’s power-play goal and while killing a four-minute Columbus power play late in the period.
Hill stopped Zach Aston-Reese’s short-handed shot from the left circle 7:43 into the second period.
Dorofeyev made it 3-0 with 7:43 left in the second period. He scored his 26th goal on a wrist shot from the left circle after taking a cross-ice pass from Hertl.
Pietrangelo added an empty-net goal with 4:22 left.
Forward Christian Fischer played his first game for the Blue Jackets after being acquired via waivers from the Detroit Red Wings.
